


So I chose to rewrite Miraculous

by LanceMcpain



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28191294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LanceMcpain/pseuds/LanceMcpain
Summary: The last thing a quiet nobody like Marinette Dupain-Cheng expected was to be given the responsibility of protecting a whole city alongside some sarcastic cat boy. But hey, life was always full of surprises.Exactly what the title says. I'm tired of canon having zero character development and no plot changes, so I wrote this.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	So I chose to rewrite Miraculous

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Thanks for choosing to check out this story. As already explained in the summary, I really wanted to rewrite Miraculous. So here's what you can expect from this story that canon does not give you:
> 
> -Thought out plot points of this story from beginning to end  
> -An eventual identity reveal  
> -Actual character flaws that must be consequently dealt with  
> -Actions having consequences  
> -Character development  
> -Romance and teen drama, though that was a given
> 
> I'm so done with Marinette not having an actual character other than being super clumsy and in love with Adrien. She's supposed to be a role model, but that doesn't mean needing to be perfect. In this rewrite I'm really hoping to showcase how stressed her and Adrien are with juggling school and being heroes. With personality growth on top of all that.
> 
> There'll be POVs from: Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino. Typically only one perspective per chapter, but that may change.
> 
> And that's about it. Please please give me feedback if you have any! This rewrite isn't only for myself, but also for anyone else who's just really tired with how the show is going and just wants to see changes be made. So if you would prefer me to include something specific in this rewrite, let me know.
> 
> After this chapter, authors notes will be at the end.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not having a good day. Today just so happened to be the first day of the new school year, something that Marinette was dreading. Upon glancing at the roster for her class, she noticed that for yet another year she would be sharing a classroom with Chloe Bourgeois, someone Marinette had a strong distaste for. 

Chloe wasn’t necessarily the worst person in the world, yet she for some reason had her sights set on making Marinette’s life worse than it already was. For the past three years Marinette had been in collège, her and Chloe had somehow always managed to share a class together. Which meant torment for Marinette. Which meant extra stress.

Groaning, Marinette placed her head in her hands. It wouldn’t be so bad this year though, she hoped. If she was lucky, maybe Chloe would finally lay off.

It wasn’t as if Marinette didn’t have friends to look forward to hanging out with, though. There was always Rose and Juleka, who had both shared class with Marinette in the year prior. Though Marinette couldn’t help but feel as if that whenever she hung around the two, she was third-wheeling.

Then there was Alix, who Marinette had been growing closer with during her first two years of collège but was more distanced from when they hadn’t been in any classes together the year prior.

Alright, whatever. Marinette did not actually have a ton of good friends. 

That was fine by her, though. If it meant she got to keep to herself and design clothes in peace, she would deal with the lack of friendship. Even if it meant not having anyone to cry to when she was in distress.

One time during the previous school year, Marinette had tried to vent her feelings to Rose by telling her that she wished it was easier to make friends. Rose just smiled and told her that she was a nice person, and she was sure Marinette would find other people to hang out with. It wasn’t really enough though. 

After that incident, Marinette took to browsing internet forums and talking to random strangers on the internet whenever she felt particularly stressed out. Last night was one such night when she felt stressed, with school starting once more. However, Marinette had stayed up longer than intended and only ended up making herself extra tired and more stressed than before.

Suppressing a yawn, Marinette continued to walk to her collège. It wasn’t too far from her house, thankfully, but the walk was long enough for her to always end up getting lost in thought. 

Today’s train of thought just so happened to be about what in the world Marinette was doing with her life. Sure, she wanted to be a fashion designer. But that was all she had. She couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something from her life. Maybe this would be the year she finally figured herself out more.

Seeing the school stretched out in front of her, Marinette continued walking forward until she reached the stairs. Glancing around, she tried to spot out familiar faces. Someone to talk to, or anyone to laugh with about how her break had gone. But there was no one she was close with in sight, so Marinette hung her head and continued walking until she reached her classroom. 

Ready to take her usual seat in the front, Marinette stopped at the sight of Chloe in the spot. She really, really wanted to avoid the confrontation. But if Marinette was going to uphold her promise to herself and become her ideal self this year, she would stand up to Chloe.

Marinette took a deep breath before walking up to the blonde haired girl. 

“Chloe, what are you doing in my seat?” Her heart was pounding, she felt as if everyone was staring at her. Marinette knew they probably weren’t, but she still felt helpless as those cruel blue eyes made contact with hers.

“Your seat? You’ve got to be joking! For the record, Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste is going to be sitting in that seat this year,” she pointed to the spot behind her, “and I intend to be right in front of him.” Chloe laughed when Marinette flushed.

Marinette recognized the name Agreste, anyone who was interested in fashion would, but she had no idea that Gabriel Agreste’s son was her age. And such a jerk, if he would be hanging around Chloe. But Marinette didn’t particularly expect that the rich and famous would be kindhearted, so she stared at the ground and shuffled away to an open space in the back of the classroom.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought you would do,” she heard Chloe say behind her. Marinette grew red in anger, and really wanted to say more. But she had already stood up for herself once today, and doing so more would only take her outside of her own comfort levels. 

Before any other thoughts could cross Marinette’s mind, the professor began class. From then, her thoughts became cloudy as she rushed to take notes for a lesson she would likely forget in a few months anyway. Better to get good grades then forget the material rather than not pay attention to the lesson at all.

…

Marinette’s spaced out note taking was interrupted by an alarm sounding throughout the classroom. A fire alarm. Was something wrong? Was there a fire in the school? Marinette pushed herself out of her seat, breathing heavily. She hadn’t been informed of a drill today, or maybe she had, but was simply too distracted to hear the words. 

Looking around at her classmates, though, she saw that they were a bit panicked as well. Not a drill, then.

“Class, there seems to be a fire somewhere in the school right now,” the professor stated, clearly trying to appear calm. “Let’s all form a line outside of the classroom and try to evacuate in an orderly manner. Remember to remain safe!”

At the teacher’s words, everyone including Marinette got up and began walking outside of the class. Marinette had to admit she was a bit nervous, but hoped that if anything the fire wasn’t too large.

Suddenly, the professor stepped in front of her students and began calling attendance. Everyone was outside of the classroom by that point, but Marinette supposed everyone still had to be accounted for before they could leave the school. As the professor, who Marinette had forgotten to remember the name of (she would try to find out later) called out names, everyone claimed to be present except for one person.

“Everyone except Adrien Agreste is here, then?” The professor questioned. Some people in the class nodded their heads slightly as if to answer yes.

Marinette couldn’t help but feel slight satisfaction that the famous Adrien Agreste wasn’t even among them. So much for Chloe wanting to sit in front of him, then. Even though Marinette hadn’t done anything, she still felt as if the model not being at school was a small victory on her end for getting back towards her bully.

“Alright, let’s get moving,” the prof stated. “Good job to you all for not panicking, though I’m sure it’s easy to in these kinds of situations.”

And it _was_ easy to panic. Marinette still didn’t know where the fire was, and she vaguely wondered if anyone she knew was caught up in it right now.

The school halls were mostly quiet, with other classes here and there evacuating. Marinette was keeping herself alert, trying to spot the fire. It wasn’t until her class reached the outside of the building did she notice that it wasn’t the collège itself that caught fire, but a tree and a few bushes across the street.

Marinette silently sighed, happy that now there was no risk of anyone she knew getting caught in the smoke. She only hoped that firefighters could get on the scene soon and put the fire out before it spread too far. 

Suddenly, there was a tap on Marinette’s shoulder, causing her to jump and turn behind her. It was a girl, one of her classmates she thought.

“Woah! Didn’t mean to scare you there girlie,” she said. “Just wanted to talk to someone about this whole fire thing and don’t really know anyone in the class yet. I’m Alya, by the way. I’m new to this school, first year here and all. Kinda nervous, but not really. Do you like comics?”

Marinette stared wide-eyed, as the girl, now named Alya, had said all of that in one breath.

“Oh, sorry if I talk too fast,” Alya said. “A lot of people say I talk quickly sometimes.”

Marinette nodded, mouth still agape.

“So… what’s your name?”

“Oh!” Marinette exclaimed. “I’m Marinette.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you then, Marinette! I saw you stand up to that girl earlier for taking your seat, by the way! Super cool thing you did, and I’m sure you’ll get her back for it someday. Justice always prevails, you know?”

Marinette nodded once more, a bit shocked at Alya’s fast talking and at the fact that someone had actually noticed her attempt at standing up for herself.

“Yeah, justice and all that,” she said in response. “By the way, sorry if I’m quiet, I’m still a bit in shock because of... all this,” Marinette gestured around at the outside area of the collège, which was now filled up with numerous students.

“It’s fine! Don’t worry about it,” Alya smiled. “Kinda crazy to think that all of this is because of a small brush fire, don’t you think?” 

Marinette couldn’t help but agree.

“As if the first day of school couldn’t get any more chaotic…” Marinette trailed off, staring at the fire. There was some old man walking by it, but he definitely wasn’t a firefighter. The man had a walking stick, and seemed to have a bad limp as well. Before Marinette could make anything else of the situation, the man collapsed right by the fire.

“Alya, look at that man over there,” she said while pointing. “He just... collapsed.”

Alya turned her head toward the fire, spotting the old man that had fallen. “Hopefully he doesn’t end up inhaling a lot of smoke,” Alya replied. “But we still shouldn’t get anywhere near the fire. Don’t want to breathe in the smoke. Let’s just wait until the firefighters get here, Marinette.”

Marinette wanted to agree with Alya, as the fire was now inching closer to another nearby building. Yet as she stared at the man who was still on the floor, she couldn’t help but feel the need to help. After all, Marinette did promise herself that this would be the year she would change herself. 

Bracing herself to run directly into the heat of the fire, Alya grabbed Marinette by the arm and shook her head.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said. “I know we all feel the need to be heroes sometimes, but not when it involves us getting seriously hurt or burned.”

Marinette knew she was right, but that man was still collapsed right in the center of the fire... and still no firefighters in sight. Why weren’t any of the other students at the school taking action? Or better yet, the professors? Out of the entire student population, was she the only one to take someone else’s safety into consideration rather than her own?

“Sorry, Alya,” she said. “But I really want to try and help.”

Marinette let go of Alya’s arm before running across the road and into the brunt of the fire. Coughing from the smoke inhalation, she raced to the old man and picked him up. Marinette never realized how heavy people could be. 

The man opened his eyes, breathing shakily. “Thank... you,” he gasped out in a raspy voice. 

Marinette nodded, struggling to get back to her classmates. The smoke seemed to be filling her lungs, and everything felt like it was burning. Alya was right, she never should have tried to play hero in this dangerous situation.

Even though Marinette was well out of the center of the flames by now, she still felt like she couldn’t breathe. Placing the man down, she looked at him. His eyes were open, definitely a good sign.

“Can you walk the rest of the way?” She asked. 

“Yes, I should be good,” he said in response, staring at Marinette curiously. 

Marinette nodded, walking back across the road to her class. Her teacher and classmates had surely noticed her running into the fire by that point, and most were staring at her clothes that were now stained with soot. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” stated her professor. “What in the world were you thinking? You should have waited for the professionals to arrive!”

“If I had waited for the professionals to arrive, that man would have been dead from smoke inhalation!” She nearly shouted, still coughing from the smoke.

“What man are you talking about, exactly?” One of her classmates asked. “I don’t see anyone behind you.”

Marinette glanced at the spot where the old man had been seconds before, only to see that he was now gone. Where could an elderly injured man have gone so quickly? Weird.

“I swear I just rescued an old man from that fire,” Marinette said.

“Madame Bustier, you should check if she’s delusional from all that smoke,” one of her classmates said to their professor (So that’s what her name was).

Marinette glanced to Alya, who only shrugged in response. Had she really imagined saving that person? Did she run into a fire for no reason? Surely someone else would have seen that person... 

“I feel... light headed,” Marinette said, suddenly feeling faint. The voices of other students blended into nothing, as Marinette collapsed onto the floor.

... 

Ceiling spinning, Marinette suddenly opened her eyes. Where exactly was she? She couldn’t remember anything, until suddenly everything came flooding back at once. The fire. Saving the old man. Passing out. 

Eyeing her surroundings, Marinette saw she was in her room. On her bed. How had she gotten home?

Her mother, as if somehow sensing her daughter was awake, came into Marinette’s room just then. 

“Oh, she’s awake! How are you feeling sweetie?” Her mom asked.

“Fine, I guess.” Marinette shrugged. “How exactly did I get home? What happened after I passed out?

“Well, after you ran into a fire,” her mom glared at her, “a very irresponsible thing to do for the record. We’ll be having a nice long talk about this sudden hero complex of yours later.” She took a deep breath, trying to steady her voice. “The school called me about your fainting situation. So, your dad and I rushed over to the school and took you home immediately to rest.”

Marinette nodded, filling the gaps in her memory. So that’s how she had gotten home.

“Look mom, I’m sorry about running into the fire. I’m still feeling a bit dizzy though, mind if I rest alone?”

Her mom looked like she wanted to protest, but eventually sighed and walked out of her room with a quick ‘I love you.’

Marinette took a breath of relief, trying to reflect on her crazy day. Never did she actually think the first day of school could go that poorly, but now everyone in her class probably thought she was some sort of crazy person. 

With a groan, she landed flat on her back on top of her bed. “I’m sure I saw an old man,” she mumbled out of frustration. 

Her eyes caught onto something just then, a box on the corner of her desk.

“Weird, I don’t remember seeing that box in my room before.”

Marinette got out of bed to examine the box, noticing a note on the top of it. 

_For Ladybug._

Even weirder. Who was Ladybug, and why was her box in Marinette’s room?

... 

Across the city, a certain blond haired teenager had just jumped in front of a car to save a familiar old man from getting run over. Little did he know, a small black box containing a very big responsibility was slipped inside his schoolbag at that very moment. 

Two teenagers were about to have their lives changed forever.


End file.
